This invention relates to a dip coating method and a chuck apparatus which increase the number of substrates that can be dipped into a coating vessel at one time. The instant dip coating method and chuck apparatus are useful in the fabrication of electrostatographic imaging members.
Dip coating is a coating method involving dipping one or more substrates in a coating solution and taking up the substrates. The combination of the dipping motion of the substrates into the coating solution and the subsequent raising motion of the substrates from the coating solution constitutes one dip coating cycle. FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional method of dip coating a plurality of cylindrical substrates 2, wherein the substrates are dipped into and raised out of the coating vessel 4 containing a coating solution while the substrates are maintained in a cylindrical shape.
There is a need, which the present invention addresses, for a dip coating method and a chuck apparatus which can increase the number of substrates that can be dipped into the coating vessel at one time. Thus, the present invention enables an increase in the number of substrates per square meter of coating solution surface area.
The following documents disclose conventional dip coating methods, dip coating apparatus, and photosensitive members: Fukawa et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,282,888; Aoki et al., 4,680,246; Miyake, 5,213,937; Dossel et al., 4,652,507; and Pietrzykowski, Jr. et al., 5,334,246, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated by reference.